Rail clamp



A. T. PALMER Oct. 2, 1928.

RAIL CLAMP Filed May 24, 1926 Patented Get. 2, 1928.

inane AIEHONSO '1. PALMER,- OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AIL CLAMP.

" Application filed May 24,

This invention relates to rail clamps or anti-creep devices for preventing longitudinal movement of railway rails, and has for its object the provision of a device of the class named which shall be simple in construction, easy to apply, and efficient in operation, and which shall clamp the rail with a powerful OI'l b (Ether objects of the invention will appear 1 hereinafter. I

The. invention is exemplified in the combination and arrangement of parts shownin the accompanying drawing and described in the following specification, and it is more particularly pointed out in the appended claims. v

In the drawing, I Fig. 1 is an elevation of a rail clamp applied to the supporting flange of a rail. Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the device shown in Fig. 1. I I v Fig. 3 is an-elevation of the clamp. v

The numeral 10 designates a railway rail,

supported on a cross tie 11 in the usual manner. The rail clamp comprises a yoke 12 having hooks 13 and 14 at the opposite ends thereof for engaging the opposite edges of the bottom flange 15 of the railway rail. Thehook 13 is provided-with a recess 16,

which maybe placed over one edge of the flange 15 with the clamp in the position shown in broken linesin Fig. 1. The hook 14 may then be raised to bring the notch 17 therein into registration with the edge of the flange 15. The clamp is then moved to the right as viewed in Fig. 1 to bring the edgeot' the flange 15 into the notch 17, as shownin full lines in Fig; 1. This will bring the oppositeedge ofthe flange out of the recess 16 and permit the engaging face 18 of the hook 13 to rest upon the upper face of he flange I 15. The upper edge 19. of the yoke 12 will then be in the inclined positionshown in full lines in Fig. 1. The'body of the clamp is '45 provided with a longitudinal slideway 20' for receiving a wedge 21. This slideway is open at its top throughout the yoke'portion 12 of the clamp but isfin the form of a closed loop surrounding the wedge 21 at each end of the clamp. WVhen the clamp has been placed in the position shown in Fig. lit is moved into contactwith the side of the tie 11, and

r the wedge 21 is then driven into the slideway 20 until it tightly'wedges the clamp to the as flange 15. The opposite edgesof the wedge 1 previded with notches .22. to facilitate 1926. Serial nojnmii.

driving the wedge into position and to assist in preventlng displacement of the wedge after it has beendriven home. In driving the wedge into its slideway a suitable driving plug will be inserted into the opening in the end of the clamp and in contact with the end 23 of the wedge 21. wedge is enclosed within the opening 20 and does not project beyond the end of the clamp, it will not be possible to batter the end of the Since the end of the wedge by the blows used to drive it into posi- It will be seen that the wedge is j tightly between the side walls of the guide I opening so that the walls will grip the wedge with sufficient force to prevent the wedge from working loose.

When it is desiredto remove the clamp, a

driving tool will be inserted through the small end of the guide opening at the left in Fig. 1 and the wedge driven backwardly until the clamp is released. Lugs 25 project laterallyat each side of the hook 13' and against the top .face of flange 15." This braces the clamp against any tendency to tilt or rock about/its axis and 'so prevents the clamp from working loose from the rail flange. V

- If desired, clamp be held tightly against the face of the tie 11 by means'of woodscrews 26, theheads 27 of which engage the ends otthe clamp and draw the clamp 4 against the face of thetie. In this'way the rail is clamped to thetie against longitudifnal movement in both directions. Where it is only necessary to hold the rail against movement in onedirection the screws 26 may be dispensed with,'and even where it isidem sirable to clamp the rail against movement I in both directions, this maybe donelwithout I f using the'screws 26 by placing-clamps at both sides of the tie. 7

n W111 be seen in Fig.3 that the was,

is symmetrically placed relative to theclampff.

so that ,the'stress produced by the wedgeiis equally dividedbetween the, opposite sides 9 of the clamping member. prevents any I inequality oft-stress which might to tilt II I or cant the clamp. It also insures economical distribution of the material of the clamp 1 since the stress is equally distributed between. the opposite sides of the clamp. The

" l parts of the clamp which withstand the stress are placed in direct tension and there is no bending movement dueto unsymmetrical arrangement of the parts.

In the manufacture of railway rails, there 1% is likely to be a slight variation in the width and thickness of the lower flange. Aslight variation in this respect is permitted by the railroads, and it is necessary that a rail clamp.

v to be successful, mustadapt itself to this 16 variation and be capable of clamping the rail. for either extreme of variation allowed. In

the resent invention, the variation in the .widt of the flange does not interfere with the clamping action since the hooks do not enaflgage' the edges but contact with the top inclined portions of the flange. The variation in thickness is taken'up by the wedging ac- 7 tion. It. will be apparent that when the wedge is driven home, it will clamp the flange between. the top edge of the wedge and the engaging faces of the hooks irrespective of the variations in the thickness of the flange. Ifclaim: V 1. A railway clamp comprising a yoke ex- 0 "tending beneath the bottom flange of the rail from one side to the other thereof, inwardly extending hooks disposed at opposite ends of said yoke for engaging the top face of the rail flange, and a wedge for forcing said yoke downwardly to' tighten said hooks upon the upper face of the rail flange said wedge havin transversely extending grooves and ri ges substantially throughout itslength to hold said wedge from longitudinal and lateral 40 displacement.

2.. A rail clamp comprising a yoke having hooks at opposite ends thereof for engaging .the top faces of,the opp0site edges of a rail flange, said clamp having a tapered slideway therein, and a wedge arranged tobe driven intosaid slideway with its top surface in con tact with the bottom face of the rail flange to draw said hooksinto tight engagement with the rail flange said wedge havingtrans- ,versegrooves and flat topped ridges in the .,'upper face thereof for engaging the bottom .face of the lateral flange. 3. A'rail clamp comprising a yoke extendaing beneath a railway rail and having hooks 4 at opposite, ends thereof for engaging the topface of the bottom. flange ofthe rail at "opposite edges thereof, said clamp having a longitudinally extending guideway disposed centrally thereof, and a wedge arranged to be figldriven into said guideway to clamp said hooks against the top faceof the rail flange said a wedge and guideway bein'gtapered in width. 7 from top to bottom thereof and having substantially flat lateralfaces, as

A rail clamp comprising a yoke extend' ing beneath a railway rail and having up: wardly and inwardly extending hooks at opposite ends thereof forengagingthe top surface of the opposite edges of the rail flange, and a wedge for clamping the hooks against said rail flange, said yoke having a longitudinally extending guideway therein positioned to receive said wedge in symmetrical relation with the central longitudinalvertical planeof said clamp said wedge and guidewaybe- .ing tapered in width from top to bottom thereof, said wedge having spaced flat contact surfaces on the upper side thereof.

5. A railway clamp comprisinga yoke having hooks thereon for engaging-the rail, and

awedge for holding said hooks in contact with said rail, said clamp having a tapered guideway therein for receiving said "wedge, the side walls of said guideway being substan tially flat and inclined toward each other downwardly so that said wedge is forced tightly between said side walls by the pressure on the upper face thereof when driven into position.

6. A rail clamp comprising a yoke havlng hooks thereon for engaglng' a railway rail,

guideway for clamping said hooks against the rail flange, the lateral faces of'said wedge being substantially flat and inclined inwardly and downwardly while the walls of said guideway are correspondingly inclined so that the force'exerted upon the top edge of said wedge will tighten said wedge between the walls of said guideway, thus producing a clamping action for preventing displacement of said wedge.

8. A railway rail ing hooks at opposite ends thereof for engaging the flange ofa rail, and a Wedge for clamping said hooks against said flange, said wedge havingtransverse indentations on the comprising a yoke hav-' rail and extending tudinally thereof, a wedge having its upper and lower faces inclined from end to end rel-1 ative to each other and movable into said my active face thereof to provide spaced .flat

contact facesfor preventing slippage of said wedge in its guideway and movement of said clamp on the rail.

9. A rail clamp comprising ayoke having hooks at opposite ends thereof for, engaging the oppositeedges of a rail flange, said yoke having an interior fguideway therein for receiving a wedge,-and a wedge arranged" to be driven in said guideway, said wedge being shorter; than said guideway so that the ends of said wedge will be protected by the sides of said guideway.

10. A rail clamp comprising a yoke having a hook therein for engaging a railway rail, and laterally projecting lugs on said hook for preventing canting of said clamp.

11. A rail clamp comprising a yokehaving hooks thereon for engaging a rail, a

wedge for clamping said hooks upon Said rail, and fastening devices for engaging a 'ing its larger end adjacent said last mentioned hook, and laterally projecting lugs having contact faces disposed on the same plane as the contact face of said hook.

\ 13. A rail clamp comprising a yoke arranged to extend beneath a rail, hooks projecting upwardly and inwardly at opposite ends of said yoke, said hooks being spaced apart at their bases an amount greater than the width of the bottom flange of said rail, one of said hooks having a wider opening than the other to permit vertical movement of said rail clamp at one end thereof, said yoke having a longitudinally tapered opening therethrough, a wedge arranged to be driven into said opening and held thereby in symmetrical relation to the longitudinal vertical central plane of said yoke, the side walls of said guideway and the sides of said wedge being tapered inwardly and downwardly,

and laterally projecting bracing lugs on one of said hooks for preventing lateral canting of said clamp.

14. A rail clamp arranged to engage the top inclined faces of the lower flange of a railway rail leaving the edges of the flange free from clamping engagement to permit tolerance in the width of the flange and wedging means arranged to engage said rail to draw said contact members tightly against said inclined faces.

15. A rail clamp compris ng ayoke having spaced contact members thereon forenhaving contact members gaging the top face ofv the bottom flange of a railway rail, said contact members. being spaced on said yokea distance greater than the Width ofsaid bottom flange and a wedging device for clamping said contact members against said flange irrespective of variations in the thickness of sald flange.

16. A rail clamp comprislng a yoke arranged to extend beneath the bottom of a 1 rail flange, said yoke having hooks at opposite ends thereof provided with inclined contact faces for engaging the inclined upper surface of the rail flange, said hooks being spaced apart a greater distance thanv the width of said flange to permit slight variations in said width, and a wedge for contacting with the lower face-of said flange for forcing said flange into gripping engagement with the inclined contact faces of said hooks irrespective of slight variations in the thickness of said flange.

In'testimony whereof I have signed vmy name to this specification on this 21st day of May, A. D. 1926.

ALPHONSO r. PALMER. p 

